Rhabdoviruses are viruses belonging to the family Rhabdoviridae, which is in the order Mononegavirales. The name is derived from the Greek rhabdos meaning rod referring to the shape of the viral particles. Rhabdoviruses infect a broad range of hosts throughout the animal and plant kingdom. Animal rhabdoviruses infect insects, fish, and mammals, including humans.

The prototypical and best studied rhabdovirus is vesicular stomatitis virus. Since it is easy to grow in the laboratory, it is a preferred model system to study the biology of Rhabdoviruses, and Mononegavirales in general.

The mammalian disease Rabies is caused by Lyssavirus, of which several strains have been identified.

Rhabdoviruses are important pathogens of animals and plants. Thabdoviruses include RaV (Rabies virus), VSV (Vesicular stomatitis virus). Rhabdoviruses are transmitted to hosts by arthropods, such as aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, black flies, sandflies, and mosquitoes.

Rhabdoviruses carry their genetic material in the form of negative-sense single-stranded RNA. They typically carry genes for five proteins: large protein (L), glycoprotein (G), nucleoprotein (N), nonstructural protein (NS), and matrix protein (M). Rhabdoviruses that infect vertebrates are bullet-shaped.